Attainable Housing Archives - Tiny House Builders

Mirrors spread light, and make rooms seem more bright. Additionally, they double what’s visible, so a room feels a lot larger than it actually is. Sight lines are broken up in a minor way, because the corner of the eye sees movement and space, and the mind feels there’s more “over there”, if subconsciously.

Pictures additionally break up sight lines, and can give a tiny space a large “feel”; especially if the pictures themselves have many layers to them. It’s the same with paintings—the more robust or stark, the better.

Dividers also partition space. Think “cubicles”. You could turn a small room into four through partitions, and make each portion of the space dedicated to a given task. Hang pictures, paintings, and mirrors on the varying partitions, and a tiny room can feel like an endless maze of aesthetically comfortable décor. Think of a plus sign inside a square in three dimensions with mirrors everywhere. Suddenly four-hundred square feet feels like sixteen hundred square feet.

The mountain photo from HomeGoods creates the illusion of a long line of sight on an interior wall, serving the same purpose as a window.

Photo: The Arcadia Tiny House

Build Vertically To Maximize Space

Bunk beds and storage are the big considerations here. A bunk bed can also have a couch beneath, and storage under the couch, as well as drawers. Look into furniture of this kind. Put two together for a master bed with a comfortable tiny “theater” space beneath.

You can use the second couch elsewhere. With cabinets, go vertical and skinny. Do the same with drawers. If you’ve got the ability to design your own tiny home, building vertical can give the illusion of space with relatively humble square footage. Essentially, you can double the square footage of your tiny home with vertical design, if you’re clever.

Building the sleeping loft over the kitchen and bathroom area kept the house’s footprint small. Additional cabinets built into the interior wall, where there is no insulation needed, provide extra storage for pantry items.

Photo: The Green River Small House

Design Conforming To Available Space

Owing to the “tiny home” revolution, many people today are making do with less space. Accordingly, the interior design market has shifted to match this trend. Be creative and look into available options that can be conformed to your specific needs in terms of design.

For example, you might have cabinets designed to sit high and leave free space beneath, allowing you to put chairs or other furniture in this area.

There are storage cabinets under the stairs and behind that half-wall in the loft.

Photo: The Kinderhook Park Model Tiny House

Getting the Most Out Of Your Living Space

Whether you’re living in a tiny home, or you’ve got several tiny rooms that need a little “something” to help them feel livable, there are plenty of good ideas out there. Do a little searching. Surf the web for inspiration. Consider building vertically, and breaking sight lines expands the feel of a space.

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Great Barrington, MA Will Vote On Backyard Tiny Houses May 6

April 17, 2019/in Zoning /by Rick Porco

The planning & zoning board of the town of Great Barrington, MA is considering allowing tiny houses on wheels, or movable tiny houses, as Accessory Dwelling Units in the back yards of existing houses.

The tiny house amendment has gone through all the previous stages of approval: registered voters in Great Barrington will vote on whether to allow them at the annual town meeting on May 6.

Background Info:

Katie Jackson of B&B Tiny Houses was asked to do a presentation at a planning board meeting on what tiny houses are, how they work, and how other cities have written them into their zoning code. Katie is also the Northeast Regional Director of the American Tiny House Association, which is hosting the open house on May 5.

Here’s our previous update on Great Barrington’s consideration of allowing tiny houses on wheels.

Here’s an article on Great Barrington’s Town Meeting from the Berkshire Edge.

Who buys tiny houses?

Most of B&B Tiny Houses’ non-commercial customers have their tiny house in the backyard of a family member or friend, in a campground, or on rural land with permissible zoning. Some people live in their tiny houses full time, while others use them as guest houses, vacation houses, housing for personal care givers, or as wheelchair-accessible additions so someone can live at home while recovering from a spinal cord injury or in-home hospice care.

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Why do people want tiny houses?

Although tiny houses are on wheels, very few people travel with them like RVers. Most people who want tiny houses are drawn to the very low cost of living and the low carbon footprint. Others want tiny houses on wheels because they might move once every couple of years, like traveling nurses or those with academic professions. Many who live in tiny houses find themselves spending less time at home and more time in their communities and the outdoors.

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Why don’t more people have tiny houses?

The biggest barrier to those wanting to own a tiny house is the difficulty of finding a legal spot to live in their house. Since tiny houses are a relatively new phenomenon, most municipalities don’t already have laws allowing tiny houses on wheels as residences.

Backyard tiny houses will add density without having to change the infrastructure of the town; it’s the quickest, easiest solution (and one of many) that will address the housing crisis.

Here’s Great Barrington’s proposed zoning language pertaining to tiny houses:

Acronym Key:

MTH: Movable Tiny House

THOW: Tiny House on Wheels

ADU: Accessory Dwelling Unit

There will be two tiny house events in Great Barrington:

-Tiny House Open House in the backyard of 65 Anderson Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230. Sunday, May 5, 10am-4pm.

Sunday’s tiny house open house is in advance of Monday’s Great Barrington Annual Meeting, where a proposed zoning amendment allowing Movable Tiny Houses as accessory dwelling units will be voted upon, among other topics. The open house is hosted by Amy Turnbull who is on the leadership team of the American Tiny House Association, with a movable tiny house built by Tony Indino of East Granby, Connecticut (this house is shown in the event flyer). This open house will give a glimpse into what backyard tiny houses might look like in Great Barrington if the Movable Tiny House Amendment passes.

-Great Barrington Annual Meeting & Vote at Monument Mountain High School Auditorium, 600 Stockbridge Rd, Great Barrington, MA 01230. Monday, May 6, 6:00pm.

Please attend the Annual Meeting on Monday in support of allowing movable tiny houses in Great Barrington backyards. The proposed amendment language is posted in the comments. All those who are registered to vote in Great Barrington may vote on the amendments.

Planning Board Meeting Recap: Backyard Cottages in Williamstown, MA?

March 14, 2019/in Zoning /by Rick Porco

Williamstown, MA had its planning board meeting last night, discussing whether to allow backyard cottages and second apartments to homes in certain zones of town. It was a full house, with others who couldn’t get seats standing in the hallway.

In the photo, Amy Jeschawitz, Chair of the Planning Board, sits under the town flag, depicting Williamstown’s beloved 1753 House. The 1753 House was originally called a “Regulation House” by the early European settlers, who, in order to be considered land owners, had to build a house that was at least 15’ x 18’ and 7’ tall. At 270 sq ft, this would certainly be considered a “tiny house” by today’s standards!

The size of the detached ADUs (backyard cottages) in the current proposed bylaw would be limited to between 900 and 1200 square feet, determined by the size of the existing home and its lot.

Also addressed was allowing a second unit to an existing single family home, either within or added on to the existing building. These two bylaws would mean that a single unit property within certain zones could ostensibly turn into a three-unit property.
The planning board voted 3-1 in favor of recommending the proposed bylaws, with the additional restriction of a five year wait between adding a second unit to a property and adding a third.

The bylaws will now be taken to Town Meeting.

Recap: Meeting on Backyard Tiny Houses in Great Barrington, MA

March 11, 2019/in Zoning /by Rick Porco

Last week’s public hearing in Great Barrington, MA addressed using tiny houses on wheels as backyard cottages. (If you haven’t already seen it or need a refresher, refer back to this blog post).

After the meeting, I spoke with Jonathan Hankin who is the president of the Planning Board. Here’s his recap:

The meeting was 3 hours long and had lots of controversial items to cover! The proposed tiny house ADUs weren’t discussed, negatively or positively.
Public comments remain open until next week’s meeting, which is on Thursday. However, since there hasn’t been any negative feedback, Jonathan seems confident it should pass without issue.
Next week’s meeting is when all the proposed changes to Great Barrington’s Zoning Bylaws should be put on a warrant. Those changes will officially pass (or not) at the Town Meeting, which takes place the last week in May.
All the changes that pass in Town Meeting will go to the Attorney General for review. Her report should come back in August or September. All changes that she approves will be retroactively in effect back to next week’s meeting (get your Delorean ready).

As a side note, the Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey, visited the B&B Tiny Houses workshop last year and said, in front of many members of the press, that she feels tiny houses are a good affordable housing option. She has also signed the Nantucket, MA zoning bylaw allowing tiny houses, so we feel good about Atty. Gen. Healey signing Great Barrington’s as well.

-K. Jackson

Pictured from left: B&B Tiny Houses Owners Chris St. Cyr, Jason Koperniak, Mitch Bressett, and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey outside the Arcadia Tiny House. Photo from iBerkshires.com.

Please Support Tiny House Zoning in Great Barrington, MA this Thursday, March 7

March 4, 2019/in Zoning /by Rick Porco

The town of Great Barrington, MA is considering adding Movable Tiny Houses, or Tiny Houses on Wheels, to their zoning regulations, allowable as Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).

As proposed, movable tiny houses will only be allowed as an ADU which means there has to be a primary dwelling. A 2/3 majority at town meeting will allow them.

The Thursday meeting agenda includes a Citizen’s Speak Time, where those who live in Great Barrington can share their thoughts. Those who don’t live in Great Barrington but would like to show up in support of legal tiny houses may also attend the meeting.

This meeting will address movable tiny houses. Tiny houses that are on a foundation are already permitted as an ADU under the current bylaw and would need to meet the stretch code adopted by GB. The planning board is also seeking to increase the allowable number of ADUs to two.

This is the proposed added language to the Great Barrington Zoning Bylaws:

To Section 11.0 Definitions add:

Movable Tiny Houses (MTH)

A structure intended for the separate, independent living quarters of one household for year-round residence that meets all of the following:

(a) Is licensed and registered with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles;

(b) Meets the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) 119.5 requirements, and certified by a qualified third party inspector for ANSI compliance;

(c) Cannot move under its own power;

(d) Has not less than 150 and no more than 430 square feet of habitable living space, excluding lofts;

(e) Is designed and built using conventional residential building materials for windows, roofing and exterior siding.

ACCESSORY DWELLING UNIT: a subordinate dwelling unit on the same lot as a primary single family or two-family residential use, with provisions for independent cooking, living, sanitation and sleeping. (Add) A Movable Tiny House (MTH) connected to electricity, water, and sewer or septic that has its chassis, wheels and hitch concealed shall be considered an accessory dwelling unit.

(This proposed language may have been updated by the time the meeting takes place).

Please attend:

GREAT BARRINGTON PLANNING BOARD MEETING

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2019 6:00 PM

Great Barrington Fire Station

37 State Road, Great Barrington, MA

Read the Meeting Agenda here.

How To Save A Ton of Money on Your Tiny House Build

February 13, 2019/in Pricing /by Rick Porco

Many people who want to go tiny do so because it’s a wallet-friendly housing choice. Whether for a primary residence or a vacation home, tiny houses use less materials and less energy over time than traditional single family homes.

Much of saving money on a tiny house build involves understanding the many different options available to you in the tiny house buying process. Here are some points to consider when saving money in your tiny house.

Go with an already-designed tiny house, not a custom design

This is the single greatest money-saving action we can suggest. Custom designs will cost more than a house that’s already in our Signature Designs, and this applies to every step of the process, not just the design phase. Even after the designer’s finished with the blueprints, the builders will need to spend more time on each aspect of the house, since it’s not one they’ve built before. Time is a very large percentage of the final cost, and cutting down on our time spent working through new challenges with a custom tiny house will cut down your overall final cost.

But don’t worry, you can still make your tiny house your own, even if it’s picked out of our catalogue of Signature Models. You’ll be able to choose all the colors, materials, and fixtures for your tiny house.

We offer three options for making your tiny house your own:

CUSTOMIZATION CHOICES, like exterior and interior wall materials, appliances, colors, open shelving versus cabinetry with doors, are always free— these choices will be reflected in the materials and installation cost. These choices don’t require the tiny house designer to change anything about the blueprints of the house.

ALTERATIONS TO OUR EXISTING BLUEPRINTS are $800, which includes two free revisions. Any further revisions are billed at $50 per hour of the designer’s time. The extra build time and materials for an altered floor plan will be built into the quote. Alterations include adding a loft to houses where possible, changing window sizes and locations, designing a custom staircase, and changing the roof shape where possible.

ENTIRELY ORIGINAL DESIGNS are available when we will be building three or more tiny houses; there is a design fee of $2500. This includes two free revisions. Any further revisions are billed at $50 per hour of the designer’s time. The extra time taken to build a custom, rather than a mass-produced, tiny house will be built into the quote. Custom tiny houses generally start at $90,000.

Choose standard materials

We can build anything you want as long as it’s within the RVIA’s safety standards. One of the owners of B&B Tiny Houses, Mitch, likes to say “we’ll build a slide off the roof” (we haven’t received an order for that one yet)! However, just because we can build something doesn’t mean it’s not going to cost money. Similarly to the previous section on choosing a standard design, choosing standard materials that we already know how to install and that they work well in tiny houses will save us time and save you money.

Our list of common upgrades for our tiny houses doesn’t represent everything we can do and everything we’ve ever built into a tiny house, but it’s a great representation of what upgrades we are comfortable making and already know how to install efficiently. We are happy to research, price, design for, and build with materials or fixtures that aren’t on that list: we’ll just have to build the extra time spent on non-standard materials into the final price. Don’t worry: we think you’ll be very happy finding exactly what you want within that extensive list. Sometimes we even have leftover materials from a previous project that might work well in your house that we can offer you a discount on: we’ll be sure to let you know if so.

Choose inexpensive materials & fixtures from our list

Another way to save money on your tiny house is to go with basic materials. Each tiny house is listed with a starting price. This starting price includes basic materials and fixtures. Here’s a list of our basic materials and what an upgraded material in the same category might be. The difference between tiny houses using all basic materials and tiny houses using all upgraded materials can be quite significant in the final total.

The kitchen shown in this Hoosic tiny house uses all basic materials included in the starting price: a two-burner built-in cooktop, a small kitchen sink, a mini-fridge built into the cabinetry. Of course, you can upgrade this kitchen to include an apartment-size fridge or built in fridge and freezer drawers, a propane stove and oven, a large undermount sink, and a convection oven/microwave (see these features in the Kinderhook tiny house), but this will, of course, cost much more. Being frugal with your appliance choices makes for a great deal of savings in the end.

	Starting Price Includes:	Upgraded Tiny House Might Include:
Exterior	Vinyl Clapboard	Vertical Solid Wood Shiplap
Roofing	Asphalt Shingle	Ribbed Metal
Interior Walls	Sheetrock	Solid Wood Shiplap
Climate Control	In-Wall Electric Heater	Mini Split (Electric Heating & Cooling)
Cooking	2-Burner Glass Cooktop	Stainless Steel 3-Burner Propane Stove/Oven with Range Hood
Refrigerator	Mini-Fridge	Apartment Size Fridge (24″ w x 68″ h x 25′ d, 10.1 cu. ft.
Dishwashing	Kitchen Sink	Kitchen Sink & Dishwasher (Certain Models Only)
Shower/Tub Insert	Vinyl	Custom Tile
Bathroom Sink	Mini Sink with Vanity	Mini or Full-Size Sink with Vanity
Washer/Dryer	Not Included	Washer/Dryer Combo (Certain Models Only– Not Available with Solar Power)
Toilet	Your Choice- Inquire For Pricing	Your Choice- Inquire For Pricing

Choose standard power and water hookups rather than going off-grid

Going off-grid in a tiny house is possible, but the up-front cost isn’t cheap. Likewise, if you’ll want to run electric appliances in your off-grid tiny house, you can, but not as many or as often as you might when you’re on grid. The cost of setting up a solar system capable of running appliances in the same way that one normally might in an on-grid situation can double the cost of the tiny house itself! Running large appliances like a washer/dryer, or many appliances at once, will require large battery storage as well as an array of many solar panels: more that can fit onto the roof of a tiny house.

If you will go with off-grid solar and want to be frugal (or if you’d like to travel with your solar panels), you’ll have to eliminate most electric-run appliances from your list and plan on using other sources of energy, like propane.

The simplest, cheapest power source for your tiny house is running an extension cord and a potable water hose (with heat tape in winter!) from a building that already has power and water. Many people who live in their tiny houses full-time park their houses beside or behind the house of a friend, relative or landlord. Others may lease or purchase a property that already has a power source. The cost of these hookups is included in the starting price of all our tiny houses.

Check out this blog post for more info on how to hook up your tiny house to water and power.

Ready to get started on your tiny house?

Choose your favorite of our Signature Tiny House Models and then get an Instant Estimate for that house with the features and fixtures you want.

When you’re comfortable with your price, contact us to get started.

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